


Late Dawns & Early Sunsets

by astraLazuli



Series: The Collision of Your Kiss [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Demonstuck, F/M, Incubus Dave
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-01 13:49:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6522340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraLazuli/pseuds/astraLazuli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When his childhood friend's life is in danger, incubus Dave Strider seeks help from the only person he can think to turn to: demon hunter Jade Harley.</p>
<p>Takes place several months after the events of So Deep And Down We Go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Dave**

You sit in the corner of the cafe, crossed legs jiggling beneath the table as you glance around at your fellow patrons. It’s early afternoon and the crowd reflects in, namely in that it isn’t a crowd at all. Just a handful of college students typing away at laptops and the occasional frantic intern running in for the office’s midday caffeine fix. Then there’s you, in the corner, wearing your shades indoors on an overcast fall day, your lanky frame cramped awkwardly behind the tiny table. Logically you know you don’t look too out of place amongst the students who are only a few years younger than you, but goddamn do you ever feel like you stick out like a sore thumb. But that’s probably just the fact that you almost never find yourself awake when there’s still daylight out, much less out and about in a small coffee shop downtown. But this was the only time she had available to meet.

You realize then that your knee, which has been bumping awkwardly against the table, is making the whole thing shake, causing your coffee to slosh about dangerously. You uncross your legs, sinking lower in your chair and rubbing your bloodshot eyes with one hand.

There is a quiet ding, and you look up to see a petite woman wearing a dark teal suit and red glasses walk in, red tipped white cane in hand. She pauses as the door swings shut behind her, seeming to look around the room. A giant sharp grin spreads across her face as she faces your corner, and she quickly makes her way over, cane lightly skimming over the tile floor. She sits down in the chair across from you, carefully tucking her cane against the wall. You pull yourself up a bit in your chair to give her some room under the tiny table.

“How’s it going, cool kid?” she asks, leaning her elbows on the table and her head in her hands.

This young woman, with her shoulder length dark hair and body that is nothing but sharp angles, is none other than your longtime friend, Terezi Pyrope. You’ve known Terezi since the two of you were children, meeting when you attended the same grade school. You’ve stuck together through thick and thin. She was there for you when your first boyfriend died at sixteen, and you were there for her when she went blind at nine. (Though her losing her vision seemed to cause only the slightest hiccup in her life and she never seems to actually have trouble seeing things these days. You have your suspicions as to why, but you keep them to yourself. No need to make things more complicated for her.) You’ve been lab partners and confidants and prom dates.

She also happens to be the youngest assistant district attorney in state record.

You shrug. “You know how it is. Barely able to walk down the street but for the seas of bitches falling at my feet. The usual.” Well it’s technically not really a lie.

She stares blankly at you for a second then lets out a cackle. “Of course! Stud muffin like you, what else would be going on?” Terezi reaches over, snatching up your cup and taking a hearty swig of your coffee. She places the cup back down with an appreciative smack of her lips. “No, but seriously, how are you?”

You shrug again. “Eh, can’t complain. Things are alright.”

“Anything new on the hot badass babe front?”

You pretend very hard that you aren’t feeling heat rise in your face. “Nah,” you say, as casually as can be, picking up the coffee cup. “Nothing to report.” You take a deliberately casual sip. It’s all very casual.

Terezi raises an eyebrow at you and tilts her head, obviously considering whether to press the matter.

You quickly change the subject.

“And how are things going for Miss Fancy Pants Lawyer?”

“You’re just jealous your pants can’t be as fancy as mine, admit it,” she laughs.

You sigh dramatically. “It’s true. I often long for the day I have fancier pants, all bedazzled with sequins and shit, blinding people as I strut on by.”

“Don’t even bother trying, you can never best my fancy pants. They are simply the fanciest there are.”

This goes on for another good ten minutes, just the two of you going back and forth, debating the identity of the fanciest pants, you with your practiced poker face and her with her crazy grin, occasionally cackling.

Finally, you cave, take another sip of coffee, and say, “Okay, but fancy pants aside, how’re things?”

Her smile falters slightly. “You know, just your usual lawyer stuff.” There’s a pause. “I’m working this money laundering case. Not too huge of a deal but we think these guys have ties to some big fish and if we can get a conviction, it’d be a step toward making a dent in one of the local syndicates.”

“Well that’s pretty cool,” you reply. “What’s the rub?”

Terezi frowns. “Well… People related to the case keep turning up dead. Family members of witnesses, one of the arresting officers, a couple witnesses themselves, and there’s been death threats made against my lead witnesses. I mean, we’ve at least managed to keep those guys safe so far, and a lot of this we expected considering our suspicions of who they work for, but damn.” She pinches the bridge of her nose and shakes her head. “And they’re all dying the same way! In rooms locked from the inside, no sign of forced entry, no sign of foul play, but no fucking sign that there’s any reason for them to die of natural causes. Heart attacks in people with perfectly healthy hearts, liver failure that comes out of nowhere, lung cancer in a person who had a clean bill of health a month ago. It’s so damn weird.” She steals another sip of coffee.

Your heartbeat speeds up slightly, and your thoughts start to race.

She tilts her head to the side.

“You can go ahead and stop worrying about me. It’s not anything that I can’t handle. It’s just frustrating that my case might fall apart before we even manage to get to trial. Especially since that how things always seem to go in this city.”

“Hey, who said I was worried?” you say, not skipping a beat.

It’s pointless to deny it, you know that. Terezi can read you like a book. Well. A book in braille, you guess. Come to think of it, you’ve never noticed if Terezi’s ability to “see” extends to reading or not… You’ll have to come up with some sort of plan to find out.

“Pfft,” Terezi snorts, “Please.”

“Alright, fine, I’m worried about you. You happy?”

She smiles, a softer smile than her usual one. “Come on Dave, there’s no need to worry. I can handle myself. I’ve kicked your ass enough times, you should know that.”

“I guess that’s true. Just… Be careful, okay? I don't want to be hearing about your tragic untimely death on the news.”

She laughs and the crazed smile is back. “It'll take more than a few mobsters to bring me down.”

The corner of your lip twitches. Terezi is nothing if not completely sure of herself. But still, as the two of you polish off the giant coffee and say your goodbyes, the worry nags at you because, unlike Terezi, you know the true nature of the killer after her witnesses. And that knowledge does nothing but gnaw at your stomach. On the drive home, you come to a decision.

Your name is Dave Strider and you are an incubus and you are about to do what no demon ever hopes to do: ask a hunter for help.


	2. Chapter 2

**Jade**

You are in your usual haunt, the driver’s seat of your run down car, drumming your fingers on the edge of the steering wheel. For once, though, you aren’t parked in some dark alley, waiting to intercept the things that go bump in the night. Granted, that’s exactly what you’ve been doing for the past ten hours, but right now you are simply waiting for a traffic light to change on your way home. 

You rub your eyes with your hand impatiently, squinting up at the light. Exhaustion is wearing heavy in your bones, tugging at your eyelids, and all you can think of is collapsing into your bed the second you get home. The past few nights have been particularly long and wearing, spent knocking back hordes of lesser demons that have been running rampant beneath the heart of the city. These lower demons might be smaller and less intelligent than others that you deal with, but no less of a pain in the ass. You wince as you run your hand over your neck and your finger catch on several small wounds. For one thing, these buggers really like to bite. 

Thankfully, the light finally turns green and you continue on your way home. The rest of the car ride seems blissfully quick, your mind distracted from the task by the quiet buzz of tiredness permeating everything. You pull into the garage nestled under your house and kill the engine. You gather up your belongings- your bag, your cell phone, an empty thermos, your rifle case from the trunk- and make your way up the steps and through the garage door. 

Your house is dark, the daylight sun blocked out by carefully installed blackout curtains. You flick a light on as you make your way through into small kitchen, dumping your bag and rifle case on the table. You click your tongue. There is gentle crackling noise and in a flash of electric green light, there is a giant fluffy white dog trotting towards you. You ruffle the fur on his head.

“Hey, Bec,” you whisper. “It’s been a very long night. Let’s go to bed. Sound good?”

Bec lets out a soft ‘boof’ and bumps his head against your leg. You continue on through the house, trudging through the living room and up the stairs to the first door on the left, Bec trotting along behind you. 

Once in your bedroom, you throw yourself on the bed and begin tugging at your shoelaces, kicking off your boots. Your hands find the knife sheath on your thigh and fuss with the buckles. Soon the knife finds its resting place on your bedside table, shortly followed by your glasses. You strip off your pants, replacing them with a pair of Squiddles pajama bottoms, and pull your long, curly black hair up into a loose bun. Climbing into bed, you click your tongue again and Bec jumps up next to you, curling up so that he takes up a good half of the bed. You cuddle up next to him, resting your face in his soft, fluffy fur, and turn off the light. 

_ KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!! _

You sit bolt upright in bed, yanked from your sleep from the loud knocking coming from downstairs. Bec lifts his head up, growling quietly. You cram your glasses on your face and a glance at the clock tells you that it’s only ten in the morning, by far earlier than your friends know to wake you. You whisper a few words to Bec, and he slinks off the bed, slipping out the door and down the stairs. 

_ KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!! _

Bec lets out a bark from downstairs followed by a loud growl.

You grab your knife off your bedside table, carefully pulling it out as you climb out of bed. You make your way after Bec, quietly walking down the stairs and to the front door. You pause outside the door, adjusting the weight of your knife in your hand and then hiding it behind your back. With a deep breath, you pull the door open.

There is a blast of bright light, the glare blocking your vision for a moment. As your eyes adjust, you see a person standing before you, a tall man, about your age, with palest blond hair and pair of ridiculous aviator sunglasses. Your eyes widen and you immediately slam the door shut in his face. 

“Oh shit!” You hear his voice from the other side of the door as you turn, leaning your back against the door, the heat rising in your face. 

There’s more banging at the door.

“Hey! Hey, c’mon! Would you open the door?” He shouts. “Look, I need your help! Please, just open the door!”

Bec growls at the door, lip curling. 

“Hush,” you hiss at him. He looks up at you curiously. You close your eyes and take a deep breath, slowly turning back to face the door. Very slowly, and against your better judgement, you open the door to face him. 

“Thank god,” you hear him mutter under his breath.

“What do you want?” you ask in what you hope is a cool voice, leaning against the doorframe.

“I- uh- Well, you see, thing is,” he rambles. He stops and takes a breath. “Can I come in? I’m not really all about this blaring sunshine thing.”

You stare at him for a moment, your mouth slightly open, just trying to process this ridiculous request. You shut your mouth, scowling, and pull the door open the rest of the way.

“Fine. You can come in.”

“Thanks, Harley,” he says, scooting past you into your living room. He flops down on the couch, as casual as can be, looking like he owns the place. Bec walks up to him, sniffing at his pants. “Oh hey, cool dog.” He reaches out a hand to pet Bec who snaps his teeth at him, green light crackling in his eyes. Dave pulls his hand away quickly, his purposely cool demeanor momentarily slipping.

You snap the door shut, returning the room to comfortable darkness. He quickly recomposes himself as you turn to face him.

“So what do you want?” you ask, fidgeting with the knife in your hand absentmindedly. 

He eyes up the knife. “Uh… you want to put that thing down? I don’t think it’s all that necessary here. This is just a chat between two old comrades.”

Your eyes narrow. “We aren’t comrades. And I think I’m going to hang on to it for right now. Again, I ask, what do you want? You better give me an answer soon, before I come to my senses and kick you out.”

“Okay, okay, calm down. I was serious when I said I needed your help.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Aaaaaand what exactly makes you think that I might want to help you? Or have you forgotten the simple fact that I am hunter and you are a demon?”

Dave rubs at the back of his neck awkwardly. “Look, I know that I’m probably the last person you want to have in your living room right now-” You snort. “-but I’m not here asking for help for myself. It’s for a friend of mine. A human.”

“Um… You… Have a human friend?” 

“Please, sound more totally shocked. Yes, I have human friends. With an s. As in multiples. It’s not like I eat every human I meet, give me some credit,” he scoffs.

“ _ Every _ human?” 

He frowns slightly. “I don’t eat any humans, okay? C’mon I thought as a hunter you were supposed to know these things.”

“Just because your kind doesn’t eat human flesh doesn’t mean you can’t technically consume humans,” you point out. 

“Okay, whatever,” he says, waving a hand in the air, “We’re getting seriously off topic here.”

“Fine,” you reply tersely, “How does your friend need my help?”

“Look, this friend of mine, she works for the district attorney's office, and she’s been going after some pretty sketchy dudes lately,” he begins. 

“You mean Terezi Pyrope?” you interject. 

He looks surprised. “Uh, yeah. How’d you know?”

You shrug. “I do pay attention to the news, you know. She isn’t actually a best kept secret.”

“Uh, yeah, whatever,” Dave continues, “The point is, she’s on this case right now and people related to it keep turning up dead under mysterious circumstances, and what she doesn’t know that I do is that the defendants are working for the higher ups of one of the local demon clans. And if she’s not careful, Terezi’s going to end up dead.”

You take a moment to let this news sink in. “Hm… Well. I guess that explains a lot.”

Dave raises an eyebrow. “You don’t really seem surprised about this shocking revelation.”

“Yeah, well, like you said, I’m a hunter, I should know these things,” you say with another shrug, “I’ve had my suspicions for a while that there were demons behind a lot of the organized crime in this city, so this is really just confirmation.” 

There is a pause as he looks at you expectantly. You make a point to avoid direct eye contact.

“So…..” you finally say, “What do you want me to do?”

“I thought it was pretty obvious that I wanted you to hunt down the demon who’s been picking off Terezi’s witnesses and end them,” he says smoothly. “Or. At least help me do that.”

“And now we’re right back to the question of why you think I’d be willing to help you.”

“You mean except for the fact that it would pretty squarely put you in my good books and make me pretty damn appreciative?” he says with the slightest waggle of his eyebrows. Your irritation at the suggestion overwhelms the way your stomach does a backflip and your face shows it. He clears his throat and continues. “We’re going with because this is to save the life of a human or potentially multiple humans and it involves taking out some badass demon and all of this falls right squarely under your hunterly duties.”

You bite your lip. He really does have a point there. You can’t really turn your back when human life is at risk because of demon activity. You pinch the bridge of your nose with your free hand, massaging the skin beneath the bridge of your glasses. 

“Fine,” you sigh. “I’ll help you. But only because it’s my duty. I don’t want you getting any ideas about this meaning anything friendly between us.”

“That’s cool,” he says. “No false impressions going on here. Not like I’d have any from the last time we met or anything.”

You feel your face getting warm. “Don’t you even dare bring that up!” you hiss, brandishing the knife at him.

“Whoa there, chill out,” he says, raising his hands in front of him. “It was just a joke there, Harls, no need to go threatening a guy over it.”

You lower the knife and rub your eyes. “You need to leave now.”

“Kicking me out already? I know you’re the expert here, but shouldn’t we, like, get started on this whole demon hunting quest?”

“Look, I’ve said that I’ll help you and I’m going to do that, but you woke me up after less than three hours of sleep! I’m exhausted!” you exclaim, a hint of a whine creeping into your voice.

It seems that only just then does it dawn on him that you are standing in front of him in your pajamas and what might be interpreted as a look of regret and perhaps even embarrassment appears on his face. “Uh… Yeah… I guess you don’t really do daytime either. I’m… Well, uh, sorry about that.”

You sigh. “Whatever. Just.” You gesture toward the door with your free hand. 

He stands up and walks over to the door, pulling it open and allowing a bright stream of sunshine inside. He turns back and looks at you for a moment as though considering carefully what to say. “So. Uh. I guess I’ll see you later then. I’m sure you know where to find me.”

You don’t respond, both of you full well knowing that what true.

He makes an awkward short jolt of a wave and walks out the door, softly closing it behind him.

You let the tension in your shoulders relax slightly, heaving a sigh that turns into a yawn. With a click of your tongue at Bec, you start your way back upstairs. You’d better get some sleep; you have a feeling it’s going to be a very long night.


End file.
